Voices from LA May Day: The struggle for immigrant rights

By Ted Gleason and Anthony Whitaker

May 13, 2017

On May 1, thousands of working people turned out to protest the Trump administration’s vicious attacks on immigrant communities. Liberation News was there and asked demonstrators what had motivated them to join the May Day action.

Three nurses, Chelsea, Laura and Amanda, expressed their most immediate concerns for those at risk of deportation. “We sometimes treat undocumented immigrants at the clinic where I work. I worry about the harm that deportations have on their health and I worry about the harm it causes their children and families,” one said. “It’s a matter of treating people with human decency” added another; “Treating people in tough situations with sympathy.”

A young man named Francisco explained briefly that he had come out in support of immigrants’ rights, specifically the rights of due process and equal protection. “There are a lot of risks you face as an immigrant coming here. I don’t think immigrants necessarily want to come to the U.S. illegally but a lot of people who do come here legally still end up in jail or deported for no reason.”

Lopez, the son of undocumented immigrant parents, is troubled by the recent spike in ICE raids and the Trump administration’s proposed border wall with Mexico. “Every time you turn around there’s another raid. Almost everyday in the news there are raids. He [Trump] doesn’t live in reality. He calls us killers and rapists but he’s only deporting people who came here to work. He wants to waste our money building a wall but we’re going to fight it.”

International Worker’s day, since its inception one hundred and thirty one years ago, has championed the rights of working people around the globe and from all walks of life. In Trump’s America, where the lives of immigrant workers are under severe and increasing threat, it is the responsibility of all working people to stand in solidarity for the defense of their rights.

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